Room Temperature Rise using Fan Powered Terminal Hepas Page 1 of 5

William Greco
Feb. 17, 2013
2404 Greensward N.
Warrington, Pa. 18976
W2gre@verizon.net
Executive Summary
This article proposes a method for estimating space temperature rise in facilities employing Ceiling
Mounted Fan Powered Terminal Hepa Filter Units which do not include their own integral cooling
capacity.
Many HVAC applications require the use of Ceiling Mounted Fan Powered HEPA Terminal Filter Units.
One major reason for using these fan powered modules is to provide a cleaner classification for a facility
by inexpensively increasing air change rates. Many times the author witnessed questions and proposals
during discussions relative to raising the air change rate in either new or existing facilities by installing fan
powered modules that did not have integral cooling capabilities associated with them.
A question continually raised by facility owners, operators and managers was Why cant we just put
fan powered modules in the ceiling to meet the required air change rate ?. The only answers that
HVAC professionals could provide was: It will heat the space beyond the regulatory design conditions.
When queried How hot will it get in the space, or how long will it take for the room to reach a certain
condition, we could only respond with vague answers. The following is an attempt to provide a mathematical
procedure to estimate space temperature rise relative to this type of equipment.
Specific Heat and Specific Enthalpy is a method of associating the Mass of air in a space with its
Temperature, the relationship is given in equation-1.
( ) ( )
1
gl ps pd
h C T w h C T Equation = + +
Where:
h = BTU/pound of air
C
pd
= Specific heat of dry air at constant pressure
(note: from 0
0
F. to 100
0
F. C
pd
can be taken as 0.24)
C
ps
= Specific heat of water vapor at constant pressure
(note: from 0
0
F. to 100
0
F. C
ps
can be taken as 0.444)
h
gl
= Specific enthalpy of saturated water vapor
(note: its value can be taken as 1,061 btu/lb)
w = humidity ratio
(note: most calculations for HVAC purposes are between 0.005 and 0.010
the mean of 0.0075 lb/lb is assumed for w)
T = temperature (dry bulb)
Room Temperature Rise using Fan Powered Terminal Hepas Page 2 of 5
William Greco
Feb. 17, 2013
2404 Greensward N.
Warrington, Pa. 18976
W2gre@verizon.net
Using the values expressed on page 1 for equation-1 the following formula is derived and
the enthalpy of moist air can be determined from:
( ) ( ) 0.24 0.0075 1, 061 0.444 2 h T T Equation = + +
Using the definite integral.
Assume that we wanted to raise the temperature in a given space from 66
0
F. to 67
0
F
( )
67
66
0.24 0.00750 1, 061 0.444 T T dT + +
}
Multiply 0.0075 by each term in parentheses
67
66
0.24 7.9575 0.0033 T TdT + +
}
Add like terms
67
66
0.2433 7.9575 T dT +
}
Formula for the anti-derivative
( )
1
1
n
n
x
x dx
n
+
=
+
}
67
1 1
66
1
0.2433 7.9575
1 1
T dT
+
| |
|
+
\ .
+
}
0.2433/2 = 0.1217
2
0.1217 7.9575 T T +
Upper bound minus the lower bound
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 2
0.1217 67 67 0.1217 66 66 24.1389 BTU/LB 7.9575 7.9575
(
=

+ +
67
0
F. to 68
0
F
( )
68
67
0.24 0.00750 1, 061 0.444 24.3823 T T dT + + =
}
70
0
F. to 71
0
F
( )
71
70
0.24 0.00750 1, 061 0.444 25.1123 T T dT + + =
}
And so on..for any incremental temperature change.
Room Temperature Rise using Fan Powered Terminal Hepas Page 3 of 5
William Greco
Feb. 17, 2013
2404 Greensward N.
Warrington, Pa. 18976
W2gre@verizon.net
Example-1: (a rough estimate)
Assume a 10 foot long x 10 foot wide space with a ceiling height of 10 feet. Also assume
the 10x10x10 foot space is an interior room within a larger building area that has a constant
temperature of 75
0
F.. Further assume the 10x10x10 foot space is conditioned by a unit that
provides 17 mbh (17,000 btuh) cooling and the equipment and people load of the interior space is
10,000 BTUH and the interior room walls have a u-value of 0.57. Into this interior space, (3)
Ceiling Mounted Fan Powered HEPA Terminal Filter Units with hp motors which produce
a total of 5,760 BTUH are installed. The ceiling load is not included in this discussion..
Air at sea level 70
0
F. / 50% relative humidity has a density of 13.52 cuft per pound.
1/13.52 = 0.074 lbs per cuft. Assume 0.075 lbs cuft. An increase of 66
0
F. to 67
0
F is
(10x10x10)(24.1389)(0.075) = 1,810 BTU. 1,810 / 5,760 = 0.31 hours to increase the temperature
in the room from 66
0
F. to 67
0
F. See tabulation below.
Room
Temp
Unit
Capacity
Equip
Load
Wall Gain
or Loss
Incremental
BTU Added
with each
degree of
temp rise
Additional
Room
Load
From
Fans
Unit
Reserve
Capacity
Incremental
time hours
Hours Of
Fan
Operation
66 17000 10000 2052 0 0 4948 0 0
66 17000 10000 2052 0 2880 2068 0.5 0.5
66 17000 10000 2052 0 4948 0 0.86 1.36
67 17000 10000 1824 1810 6758 -1582 0.31 1.67
68 17000 10000 1596 1828 8586 -3182 0.32 1.99
69 17000 10000 1368 1847 10433 -4801 0.32 2.31
70 17000 10000 1140 1865 12298 -6438 0.32 2.63
71 17000 10000 912 1883 14181 -8093 0.33 2.96
72 17000 10000 684 1901 16082 -9766 0.33 3.29
73 17000 10000 456 1920 18002 -11458 0.33 3.62
74 17000 10000 228 1938 19940 -13168 0.34 3.96
75 17000 10000 0 1956 21896 -14896 0.34 4.3
76 17000 10000 -228 1975 23871 -16643 0.34 4.64
77 17000 10000 -456 1993 25864 -18408 0.35 4.99
Room Temperature Rise using Fan Powered Terminal Hepas Page 4 of 5
William Greco
Feb. 17, 2013
2404 Greensward N.
Warrington, Pa. 18976
W2gre@verizon.net
Page-3 Tabulation explained:
Note: Example-1 does not take outside air mixing into account.
The tabulation on page 3 is a rough estimate based on equation-2. The weight of the
air in the room is 1,000 cuft x 0.75 lb/cuft = 75 pounds. Each incremental temperature change
results in a btu/lb calculation which in turn is multiplied by the weight of air in the room.
The incremental BTU added with each degree of temp rise column is then divided by the
5,760 btuh developed by the Ceiling Mounted Fan Powered HEPA Terminal Filter Units to
yield the time each degree rise requires. Note that the room ac unit is assumed to provide
a constant BTUH capacity. The temperature does not begin to rise until the reserve capacity
in the AC unit has reached zero. After the reserve capacity has reached zero, a continuous
temperature rise is achieved. The amount of fan heat is additive because the unit can no longer
shed the heat and the additional heat is simply being routed around in a never ending circle.
A more accurate estimate could be made by running multiple coil runs from manufacturer
supplied software.
An example of using multiple coil runs frommanufacturer supplied software is shown on page-5.
Assume a 4 row, 8 fins per inch, full circuit coil with 800 SCFM passing through it.
The air velocity through the 18 x 12 inch coil is traveling at 422 feet per minute. In this example
we are assuming that the entering water temperature is maintained at 49
o
F. and the maximum
capacity of the AC unit is 17 MBH.
The first coil run indicates a leaving dry bulb of 57.5
o
F. with an entering dry bulb of 66
o
F.
The second coil run indicates a leaving dry bulb of 57.7
o
F. with an entering dry bulb of 67
o
F.
The leaving dry bulb will continue to climb as the entering dry bulb climbs.
Conclusion:
It is assumed that an unchecked rise in temperature in a space as noted in example-1 on page 3
would finally result in room temperatures exceeding the limits of most motor temperature ratings (104
o
F.).
Room Temperature Rise using Fan Powered Terminal Hepas Page 5 of 5
William Greco Feb. 17, 2013